Lorraine Harper
Lorraine Simone Harper (nee Cassidy) is a character on the series, Harpers Falls: New Beginnings. She is played by actress Khrystyne Haje, best known for her role of sensitive poet Simone Foster on the 1980s situation comedy, Head of the Class. When she took the role, Khrystyne had asked that her character's middle name be named "Simone" due to her years on Head of the Class. She grew up with a bear in a National Park! Born in Merced, California, Lorraine was the daughter of Tim Cassidy, a National Park ranger, and grew up most of her life working around nature and animals. As such she is a staunch Environmentalist and concerned with the green movement (much like Ms. Haje is in real life). As a child, Lorraine grew up living in the Sierra National Park, located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. (Sierra National Park is fictitious, based on the real-life Yosemite National Park) Living full-time on the grounds of one of the country's largest national parks, Lorraine felt like she was in heaven. She loved hiking, camping, skiing and other outdoor sports, a trait she shared with her father. Like her dad, she is an avid mountain climber. Since she moved to New England, she does her mountain climbing in New Hampshire and Vermont. She is also an expert skier and she always enjoyed the trips that she would take to go skiing. She had an excellent rapport with the wild creatures. She loved ecology and as such, she had a special affinity for the wildlife. She loved bears most of all, although admittedly, that put her in a lot of serious danger, but after a while, she had, with her dad's help, been able to adopt an orphaned bear cub. She named the baby cub Bumble. Lorraine and Bumble were practically inseparable, and they played all the time. Bumble was very tame and he loved Lorraine a lot, as she loved him. She had to give him up when she left for college, but on her visits home, her pet Bumble was always there to greet her. Eventually, Bumble went to a petting zoo, and Lorraine, though heartbroken, knew that her beloved tame bear would not hurt any other child. However, she never lost her love for animals. Lorraine's mother had died after she gave birth to her daughter, and yet, she wasn't ever married to her dad, Tim. Yet for most of her life, it was just her and her dad. After she began Junior High school, Tim had been killed in a mountain climbing accident. His trusted friend, Matt Harper, himself a ranger, took in the broken hearted young teen and raised her. For many years, it was Matt and Lorraine, and they endeavored to make a home. Lorraine graduated high school in her hometown of Merced, the closest city that was near Sierra National Park. Lorraine began college in San Francisco (she went to San Francisco State University, taking geology, like her dad had, and also in learning to be a Park Ranger), knowing that she missed him every day. Even to this day, she misses her parents. Had she remained in California, she would have been able to take over as a park ranger herself. Having grown up with living in a National Park most of her young life, she would have made a terrific park ranger. However, although Matt was wonderful to her, she knew he was not her dad. While she was in college, she studied into her adopted dad's family. Her father was the son of John Harper, and his first wife, Gisele. While Matt had adopted Lorraine after her dad's death, Lorraine had never taken the Harper name, until after she graduated college. When Matt passed away after a bout with cancer, a now grown up Lorraine, now calling herself Lorraine Harper, went to Boston, where she met with her grandfather's sister, June Harper. June took to Lorraine, and introduced her around to the rest of the family. Astonished that her adopted family was so large, Lorraine had no idea of how to deal with it, but she managed, and she became a huge part of the family. In fact, Lorraine is closest to her newly found cousins, Dylan Harper; Cara Niewoehner and Sheila Harper Watkins. She also dotes on her cousin Anyssa's four children. She is teaching the oldest of the quads, Sammy Forson all the ins and outs of camping and outdoor sports. Lorraine now owns a natural foods market near the Harvard campus in Cambridge, with a new store that she opened on Charles Street in the Beacon Hill area. While she is indeed happy with her new life and situations in Boston, she still missed her life in the park. As she got more and more involved in the Harpers and their lives, the pain and homesickness lessened a lot. She still loves animals, and has several cats whom she adores. However, after being isolated for so long from people, she is throwing herself into her new family with a verve that would make her dad and her adopted dad happy. Category:Characters Category:Harper family Category:Other relatives of the Harper family